Homesick For Heaven
Psalm 27:4 ESV says, “One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.”
David’s heart longed for the presence of God. In the face of imminent danger, with enemies coming from every side, his heart reaches to abide in the temple of the Lord. With an army camped against him on his left and a war rising on his right, David’s heart remained confident in the beauty and goodness of the Lord.
I can’t imagine what it would have taken to get to such a place of faith. It seems likely enough that we would have a similar desire for God in the face of uncertainty, but I know that I’ve been spiritually derailed by far lesser challenges than the threat of a fight to the death. What does it take to have such a resilient desire for the house of the Lord? How do we become homesick for heaven?
It begins with an invitation. Heaven is invite-only, reserved for those who are humble enough to hear and seek. Can you hear God’s voice echoing through David’s testimony? Psalm 27:8 ESV says, “You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to you, ‘Your face, Lord, do I seek.’” Through the help of the Holy Spirit, we can hear God speaking through these tender words. God says to you, “Seek my face.”
Why would God call us to seek him if he could not be found? Why would he invite us to seek his face unless the object of our desire and affection was him alone?
We’ve all been homesick before. Longing for the familiarity of our living room, the wifi we picked the name and password for, and the creaks in the stairs and floorboards we’ve walked over countless times. Still, homesickness is about the people we are missing. It’s being away at college and missing Mom and Dad. It’s driving home from the work trip, waiting to be with your partner. It’s flying home from serving overseas to see the beautiful face of your kids again. That kind of desire supersedes any heartache for a familiar house.
Even so, the ache for Christ goes deeper. Deep enough that we could stand face to face with an enemy army and say, “I just want to worship in your house and look at your beauty.”
I think this is the heart of David’s “one thing” prayer. Not that he will neglect his responsibilities and duties to spend forever in the temple (although God may ask this of some), but that his longing for the presence of God cuts through every thought, circumstance, and action. David lived his life through this lens of desire for the Lord, and it transformed his life, making him a man after God’s heart.
There’s little doubt in my mind that David would have preferred to spend all his time worshipping God in the temple, but he was called to be a king. He modeled the condition of our hearts when we have to be distant from God. Jesus echoed this in his priestly prayer in John 17:15 NIV, saying, “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.” Jesus was asking for the Father to empower his church and fill it with glory—not outside of the world, but right in the middle of the world. In a spiritual sense, this is no different than standing before an army.
Later in John 17:22-23 he continues, “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
Jesus invites us to live on earth, homesick for heaven. He calls us to demonstrate our love for him by displaying our homesickness for all to see. I can hardly think of a more appropriate posture for the church to take these days than that unified desperation to be with God.
God, show your love for the world through my love for you.
